Lowe, Celesta, 1917-2004

Writer and long time Las Vegas, Nevada resident Celesta Lowe grew up in Goodsprings in the Moapa Valley, Nevada before the family moved to El Monte, California, where she attended high school and business college before returning to Las Vegas area. The first Helldorado celebration in 1935 was the site of her marriage to Deke Lowe. As a mother of four children, she returned to school in 1955 to take home economic classes at Nevada Southern University (NSU), now University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV). She became the first secretary to James Dickinson in the NSU library and took charge of the Special Collections Department in 1967. Lowe played a large part in developing the Special Collections Division of the library.

A prolific writer, she wrote the column "Echoes from the Archives" in the Nevadan section of the Las Vegas Review Journal, and followed that with a column entitled "Southwestern Bookshelf." She was an active member of the National League of Pen Women beginning in 1958, and also served as book review editor for Maverick Publications. Celesta Lowe died at age 87 on December 9, 2004 in Las Vegas.